The Ardennes, 1944-1945

The Ardennes, 1944-1945 PDF Author: Christer Bergström
Publisher: Casemate / Vaktel Forlag
ISBN: 161200315X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
A comprehensive, photo-filled account of the six-week-long Battle of the Bulge, when panzers slipped through the forest and took the Allies by surprise. In December 1944, just as World War II appeared to be winding down, Hitler shocked the world with a powerful German counteroffensive that cracked the center of the American front. The attack came through the Ardennes, the hilly and forested area in eastern Belgium and Luxembourg that the Allies had considered a “quiet” sector. Instead, for the second time in the war, the Germans used it as a stealthy avenue of approach for their panzers. Much of US First Army was overrun, and thousands of prisoners were taken as the Germans forged a fifty-mile “bulge” into the Allied front. But in one small town, Bastogne, American paratroopers, together with remnants of tank units, offered dogged resistance. Meanwhile, the rest of Eisenhower’s “broad front” strategy came to a halt as Patton, from the south, and Hodges, from the north, converged on the enemy incursion. Yet it would take an epic, six-week-long winter battle, the bloodiest in the history of the US Army, before the Germans were finally pushed back. Christer Bergström has interviewed veterans, gone through huge amounts of archive material, and performed on-the-spot research in the area. The result is a large amount of previously unpublished material and new findings, including reevaluations of tank and personnel casualties and the most accurate picture yet of what really transpired from the perspectives of both sides. With nearly four hundred photos, numerous maps, and thirty-two superb color profiles of combat vehicles and aircraft, it provides perhaps the most comprehensive look at the battle yet published.

The Ardennes, 1944-1945

The Ardennes, 1944-1945 PDF Author: Christer Bergström
Publisher: Casemate / Vaktel Forlag
ISBN: 161200315X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 504

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Book Description
A comprehensive, photo-filled account of the six-week-long Battle of the Bulge, when panzers slipped through the forest and took the Allies by surprise. In December 1944, just as World War II appeared to be winding down, Hitler shocked the world with a powerful German counteroffensive that cracked the center of the American front. The attack came through the Ardennes, the hilly and forested area in eastern Belgium and Luxembourg that the Allies had considered a “quiet” sector. Instead, for the second time in the war, the Germans used it as a stealthy avenue of approach for their panzers. Much of US First Army was overrun, and thousands of prisoners were taken as the Germans forged a fifty-mile “bulge” into the Allied front. But in one small town, Bastogne, American paratroopers, together with remnants of tank units, offered dogged resistance. Meanwhile, the rest of Eisenhower’s “broad front” strategy came to a halt as Patton, from the south, and Hodges, from the north, converged on the enemy incursion. Yet it would take an epic, six-week-long winter battle, the bloodiest in the history of the US Army, before the Germans were finally pushed back. Christer Bergström has interviewed veterans, gone through huge amounts of archive material, and performed on-the-spot research in the area. The result is a large amount of previously unpublished material and new findings, including reevaluations of tank and personnel casualties and the most accurate picture yet of what really transpired from the perspectives of both sides. With nearly four hundred photos, numerous maps, and thirty-two superb color profiles of combat vehicles and aircraft, it provides perhaps the most comprehensive look at the battle yet published.

Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge PDF Author: Danny S. Parker
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781853674006
Category : Ardennes, Battle of the, 1944-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
First published in 1992 to rave reviews, Danny Parker's "Battle of the Bulge" has since become the "standard" history of the battle, praised by historians for its stirring narrative, meticulous research, and its wealth of new information and fresh interpretations. Published now in a new edition, including a photo section with fascinating then-and-now images of the Ardennes area battlefield, this "classic" history of the Battle of the Bulge will be released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of the battle.

Ardennes 1944

Ardennes 1944 PDF Author: Antony Beevor
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698411498
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 513

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Book Description
The prizewinning historian and bestselling author of D-Day, Stalingrad, and The Battle of Arnhem reconstructs the Battle of the Bulge in this riveting new account On December 16, 1944, Hitler launched his ‘last gamble’ in the snow-covered forests and gorges of the Ardennes in Belgium, believing he could split the Allies by driving all the way to Antwerp and forcing the Canadians and the British out of the war. Although his generals were doubtful of success, younger officers and NCOs were desperate to believe that their homes and families could be saved from the vengeful Red Army approaching from the east. Many were exultant at the prospect of striking back. The allies, taken by surprise, found themselves fighting two panzer armies. Belgian civilians abandoned their homes, justifiably afraid of German revenge. Panic spread even to Paris. While some American soldiers, overwhelmed by the German onslaught, fled or surrendered, others held on heroically, creating breakwaters which slowed the German advance. The harsh winter conditions and the savagery of the battle became comparable to the Eastern Front. In fact the Ardennes became the Western Front’s counterpart to Stalingrad. There was terrible ferocity on both sides, driven by desperation and revenge, in which the normal rules of combat were breached. The Ardennes—involving more than a million men—would prove to be the battle which finally broke the back of the Wehrmacht. In this deeply researched work, with striking insights into the major players on both sides, Antony Beevor gives us the definitive account of the Ardennes offensive which was to become the greatest battle of World War II.

The Battle of the Bulge

The Battle of the Bulge PDF Author: Wayne Vansant
Publisher: Zenith Press
ISBN: 0760346224
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 107

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Book Description
The history of the Battle of the Bulge, fought in Ardennes, France, is captured in a graphic format.

The Ardennes

The Ardennes PDF Author: Hugh Marshall Cole
Publisher: U.S. Government Printing Office
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 762

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Book Description


The Ardennes 1944-1945 Volume I

The Ardennes 1944-1945 Volume I PDF Author: Christer Bergström
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789188441751
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
When Christer Bergstrom published the first English edition of his ground-breaking mammoth work The Ardennes 1944-1945: Hitlers Winter Offensive in 2014, it hit the World War II community with the impact of an earthquake. Based upon tremendous research into primary sources and interviews with very many of the veterans, this book turned the previous image of the Battle of the Bulge completely upside-down. Although tearing apart many myths that surrounded this battle it has hardly received any negative criticism with such scrutiny has the author treated the sources and source references. This book has been called the new main reference work on the battle. It still remains at the very edge of historical research on this epic battle. Especially the veterans from the Battle of the Bulge have praised the work as completely outstanding. This new Volume I deals with the background of and the build-up for the offensive, the surprising German strike, and the tremendous and previously overlooked German successes during the first period of the offensive. The previously covered-up German successes and American failures are presented and detailed and carefully analyzed.

The Guns at Last Light

The Guns at Last Light PDF Author: Rick Atkinson
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 1250037816
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 896

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Book Description
It is the twentieth century's unrivaled epic: at a staggering price, the United States and its allies liberated Europe and vanquished Hitler. In the first two volumes of his bestselling Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson recounted how they fought through North Africa and Italy to the threshold of victory. Now he tells the most dramatic story of all--the titanic battle for Western Europe. D-Day marked the commencement of the European war's final campaign, and Atkinson's riveting account of that bold gamble sets the pace for the masterly narrative that follows. The brutal fight in Normandy, the liberation of Paris, the disaster that was Operation Market Garden, the horrific Battle of the Bulge, and finally the thrust to the heart of the Third Reich--all these historic events and more come alive with a wealth of new material and a mesmerizing cast of characters. With The Guns at Last Light, the stirring #1 New York Times bestseller and final volume of this monumental trilogy, Atkinson has produced the definitive chronicle of the war that unshackled a continent and preserved freedom in the West.

Battle of the Bulge

Battle of the Bulge PDF Author: Andy Rawson
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1783460210
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 229

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Book Description
Dramatic photographs of Nazi Germany’s shocking Ardennes Offensive that nearly turned the tide of World War II—from the author of In Pursuit of Hitler. Hitler’s desperate last throw during the depths of winter 1944/45 came perilously close to being a major disaster for the Allies. Their offensive through the Ardennes fell on the Americans and caught them totally by surprise. Unaccustomed to setbacks, the situation was for a time extremely serious and in some areas panic set in and events went out of control. It was only after the most bitter fighting and massive reinforcement that the rot was stopped. In this book the drama of those worrying weeks is captured in superb photographs.

Busting the Bocage

Busting the Bocage PDF Author: Michael Dale Doubler
Publisher: Fort Leavenworth, Kan. : U.S. Army Command and General Staff College
ISBN:
Category : Bocage normand (France)
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description


Implacable Foes

Implacable Foes PDF Author: Waldo Heinrichs
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190616768
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 744

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Book Description
On May 8, 1945, Victory in Europe Day-shortened to "V.E. Day"-brought with it the demise of Nazi Germany. But for the Allies, the war was only half-won. Exhausted but exuberant American soldiers, ready to return home, were sent to join the fighting in the Pacific, which by the spring and summer of 1945 had turned into a gruelling campaign of bloody attrition against an enemy determined to fight to the last man. Germany had surrendered unconditionally. The Japanese would clearly make the conditions of victory extraordinarily high. In the United States, Americans clamored for their troops to come home and for a return to a peacetime economy. Politics intruded upon military policy while a new and untested president struggled to strategize among a military command that was often mired in rivalry. The task of defeating the Japanese seemed nearly unsurmountable, even while plans to invade the home islands were being drawn. Army Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall warned of the toll that "the agony of enduring battle" would likely take. General Douglas MacArthur clashed with Marshall and Admiral Nimitz over the most effective way to defeat the increasingly resilient Japanese combatants. In the midst of this division, the Army began a program of partial demobilization of troops in Europe, which depleted units at a time when they most needed experienced soldiers. In this context of military emergency, the fearsome projections of the human cost of invading the Japanese homeland, and weakening social and political will, victory was salvaged by means of a horrific new weapon. As one Army staff officer admitted, "The capitulation of Hirohito saved our necks." In Implacable Foes, award-winning historians Waldo Heinrichs (a veteran of both theatres of war in World War II) and Marc Gallicchio bring to life the final year of World War Two in the Pacific right up to the dropping of the atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, evoking not only Japanese policies of desperate defense, but the sometimes rancorous debates on the home front. They deliver a gripping and provocative narrative that challenges the decision-making of U.S. leaders and delineates the consequences of prioritizing the European front. The result is a masterly work of military history that evaluates the nearly insurmountable trials associated with waging global war and the sacrifices necessary to succeed.